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Jason Benedict, professor of chemistry, opens the U.S. Crystal Growing Competition judging by explaining how to score the crystals. Photo: Douglas Levere
By TOM DINKI
Published January 29, 2025
When it comes to crystals, uniformity is the name of the game. A good crystal has a consistent structure, shaped by the repeating pattern of its atoms.
But that doesn’t mean there wasn’t plenty of variety to keep things fresh for the judges of this year’s U.S. Crystal Growing Competition at UB.
Some were smooth and clear, others a tad more jagged and cloudy. Some were even placed in creative displays, from a laser security system to a 3D-printed Iron Man sculpture.
And while some only had to make a short journey from Buffalo-area schools and homes, others came from as far away as the U.S. naval base in Spain.
“I’m just blown away,” said the contest’s founder, Jason Benedict, professor of chemistry. “Every year students, teachers and parents just find new, fun, interesting ways to make a crystal.”
On a snowy and rainy Saturday morning over winter break, Benedict and other researchers and educators gathered on the North Campus to score home- and school-grown crystals for the 11th annual contest. It was the first time judging was back at UB since 2023.
Altogether, there were over 170 crystals, each made from aluminum potassium sulfate (alum), a nontoxic compound used in water purification.
“It’s exciting and thrilling that so many people love participating in this contest,” Benedict said. “I’d like to think that a kid who participates in this will go on to study crystallography, but if it simply gives them some curiosity about science and the world around them, even beyond crystals, I consider that a real win.”
Here’s what the day looked like.
From left: Shea Myers, Mairi Allen and Ginger Thompson, all students in Jason Benedict’s lab, helped unbox and prepare the submitted crystals for judging. Photo: Douglas Levere
Benedict and the students in his lab arrived at the Natural Sciences Complex bright and early.
Chemistry PhD students Shea Myers and Mairi Allen, as well as undergraduate chemical engineering major Ginger Thompson, prepared a third-floor conference room for the judging.
They arranged dozens of red Solo and clear plastic cups, each containing one alum crystal, on the room’s large wooden table. Slips of paper identifying who submitted the crystal were then promptly removed from each cup to maintain the judges’ objectivity. Numbers taped to the side of each cup would help them identify the owners after the judging.
“Honestly, the setup is not super big. The big part is the months leading up to the contest,” Myers said. “We're getting box after box after box. I think we had somewhere between 30 to 50 packages.”
A designated corner of Benedict’s lab — “It’s a big corner,” noted Thompson — holds the boxes until about a week before judging. That’s when the team unboxes each crystal, recording its owner’s information, as well as its mass, into a large spreadsheet before placing it into one of the plastic cups.
“We sort of pride ourselves on 100% accuracy,” Myers said. “The last thing you want is to tell a sixth-grader, ‘Sorry, we lost your crystal and it didn’t get judged.’”
“There's no room for error,” Allen added.
The morning of the judging, they transported the crystal-containing cups on a large cart down to the judging room. There was some brief excitement with the freight elevator that required them to reroute to the regular elevator, but the crystals made it intact.
“Alum is a relatively robust material, but it’s not by any means a hard gemstone. A little jostling is fine,” Myers said.
The students then stuck around to watch the judging.
“Getting everything set up so that the judging is a fun and relatively seamless experience is always an effort, but seeing some of these crystals, and even the judges’ reactions to the crystals, is very fun to watch,” Myers said. “You really can’t get through the Benedict lab without developing a love for crystals.”
Researchers and educators use tools, including a blacklight, to rate crystals’ shapes and clarity. Photo: Douglas Levere
Once all the judges had shuffled into the conference room, Benedict explained how to actually judge a crystal.
“The four C’s of diamond shopping are cut, color, clarity and carat. This is basically the same thing,” he told them.
Using digital scoresheets, judges were to rate crystals from zero to two on each of its qualities. Crystals that were an octahedral shape, mostly clear with flat surfaces and sharp edges would get closer to the max quality score of 10.
The crystal’s prerecorded mass would later be factored in to determine the final score.
“You want to be consistent,” Benedict told the judges. “If you find yourself to be sort of a generous scorer, that’s OK. Just try to be consistent.”
To help their analysis, judges could use tweezers, jeweler’s loupes and even a black light that Benedict provided on one of the tables.
They were not required to examine every single crystal in the room, but if they judged some crystals in a given category, they had to judge all the crystals in that category.
The only other rule?
“This is supposed to be fun,” Benedict said. “Talking with other judges is not only allowed, but encouraged.”
The judging was a chance for researchers and educators to converse, or even reconnect.
That was the case for Luis R. De Jesús Báez, assistant professor of chemistry, and Tim Halter, a chemistry and physics teacher at Bishop Timon-St. Judge High School in Buffalo. Both were graduate students in the Department of Chemistry in the early 2010s.
De Jesús Báez, whose research includes solid-state materials, said the competition provided a “real-world perspective” of his work.
“This is a neat way to teach kids about solid-state materials,” he said. “What we’re trying to look for is essentially homogeneity throughout the whole crystal. There’s always going to be ones that are almost perfect and ones that are not as perfect, but just the fact that these were grown at home or in a classroom is impressive.”
Halter, who received his PhD from UB in 2014, was particularly excited to judge the “Coolest Crystal” category. The category inspired several submissions that utilized 3D-printed artwork.
“I think this is a really cool opportunity to bring the UB and wider science community together,” he said.
The winner of the “Coolest Crystal” went to a crystal heist display submitted by students in Ohio. Photo: Douglas Levere
Benedict has a pretty good idea of the winners on the afternoon of the judging, but waits a few days to announce.
“Out of an abundance of caution, I want to double and triple check that the scores are all correct,” he said. “But over the last 10 years, it works out every time.”
Late this past week, he began announcing winners through TikTok videos and via email.
They hailed from all over the country, including New Mexico, Florida and Connecticut. There were some local winners as well, including a Bishop Timon student and a homeschooled student in Tonawanda.
The coveted “Coolest Crystal” went to the crystal heist display submitted by students from University School, Middle School Campus, in Shaker Heights, Ohio. Surrounding their fluorescent crystal was a LEGO figurine thief attempting to avoid laser sensors made from strings colored with pink highlighter. The display also included an electrical box that could set off an alarm.
So, what will become of all these crystals?
Benedict and his students make sure they all find a home, either on the shelves in their lab or the display case down the hall. Some will even earn the coveted role as examples to be shown to next year’s judges.
“It’s getting harder and harder every year to keep them all, but we do it,” Myers said.
Benedict expressed appreciation for his students’ work.
“I think it’s really important for grad students to be involved in activities like this because it’s very easy to be fixated on your research and writing papers. That’s all very important, but being in academia and science, the outreach to the public is a critical piece,” he said. “This competition fosters the sense in the students that it’s important to be a scientist beyond your science.”